2019 rolled around and house sitting was becoming a priority in my life. While I was still in the family home I continued to cook for the kids and the wife when I could. I was getting indigestion and the conversation was not flowing like a fine wine. Bad news had proceeded beyond the doorstep.
House Sitting is a misnomer. You are there to animal sit. It may be a guinea pig or a donkey, but usually it is a cat or a dog that you will be caring for. These animals are part of the family. In my dozens of sits, I have never had an owner ask me to update them with pictures of their house or apartment. But they will ask you for updates on Magnus, Toby, Winnie, or…
This leads us to a new rule. In case your memory has gone, here are the first two rules of sitting I mentioned previously:
House Sitting Rule #1: Join House Sitting Sites
House Sitting Rule # 2 – References
This leads us to one of the most essential rules.
House (AKA Pet) Sitting Rule # 3-Ensure all the food, medication, idiosyncrasies, and habits of your new friend(s) are written down for you.
This will make your life easier and will help if your memory fails you when you first visit the home. Most pet owners will give you that information. Some expect you to recall it after one visit to their house a month or so before they go away. They show you the appliances, the heating, the remotes, etc. and take my word for it you will forget how to use the six remotes they have for their media control.
After an incident out in Great Western, Victoria, I created rule # 4.
House Sitting Rule #4: Do you want to be notified if something happens to your pet? This is a curly question, but I do believe it is valuable. Take, for example, you have a couple going away for their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Wagga Wagga. They are going to be gone for 2 months visiting such sites as the Walla Walla Water Tower Mural, Yarrangobilly Caves, Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre and of course the Transgrid Discovery Hub where you can learn all bout energy.
This is also known as The Ajax Rule.
After setting up my profile on a couple of sites, I finally succeeded in obtaining a home that wasn’t offered to me or passed along by a friend, family member, or soon-to-be ex-wife.
House Sit -Dave’s Concord, New South Wales 19 April-3 May 2019
My first house-sitting job was in Concord, New South Wales. This was April of 2019 and I was going to be hanging around there for the Easter Break.
Concord, NSW, takes its name from the town in Massachusetts where the first battle of the American Revolutionary War occurred in 1775. This settlement near Canada Bay is part of the traditional lands of the Wangal Clan of the Darug Tribe.
Some historians believe the Sydney suburb was named Concord to foster a spirit of peace between soldiers and settlers.
Bloody Point was nearby. In 1788, 2 convicts were found mutilated, possibly for trying to make off with a canoe, a nawi, a significant item culturally and for life along the water. The colonisers made a show of force and found a group of 6 Aboriginals, whom they beheaded. This is noted in history as possibly the start of the Frontier Wars. Massacres and the continuing genocide and displacement of the Indigenous peoples of Australia continued for decades.
You know, as I do, that problems still exist today. Treaty, Yeah? Damn Yeah! Living in Victoria now, I am damn proud that we have passed Australia’s first-ever treaty legislation establishing a permanent Indigenous representative body in the state parliament. Let’s start a trend.
Always Was….Always Will Be—Aboriginal land.
David invited me to Concord to meet the animals and hopefully have me approved as a suitable sitter.
There were a couple of dogs to care for, and someone was to come and cut the lawn. Besides that, all I had to do was get used to being in Concord for 2 weeks. I did find a good Japanese Restaurant called Kokoro. There were many places to eat around the village, but I kept to myself and commuted to my job at eBay in Sydney.
Drover and his brother were well-behaved and well looked after. My first ‘incident’ occurred at this house in Concord. The lawn-cutting human was supposed to appear one day while I was at work. When I came home that night, ready to brew some tea for the weekend and cook a meal, I was met by shattered glass at the back porch. One of the massive sliding glass doors had crashed to the ground.
Oh shite….
The door was locked when I left for work, so I messaged the gardener and the owner, and we worked out getting someone to repair the door the next day. You can imagine how my adrenaline was flowing when I first saw all the glass and my fear that the dogs had injured themselves.
Alas, they came bounding to meet me for pats and food. Simple creatures they are. I checked them for cuts or glass, and they were fine.
Enjoy the playlist….it’s a bit country/Americana, but a good one.
You can find it on Spotify or Qobuz for now. Once Substack allows me to embed Qobuz I will release Spotify. I am no longer paying Spotify for political reasons.
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/43289572
More House Sitting Tales to come…